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HBO declares war on Game of Thrones pirates, but it may be a losing battle

HBO is again trying to crack down on Game of Thrones pirates. But it’s questionable how successful it will be when many pirates are turning to streaming — a form of piracy that’s hard to track but easy to do.

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More than 90 million fans pirated the season's first episode, says one source

Pirate Euron Greyjoy from the wildly popular and widely pirated HBO TV series Game of Thrones. (HBO)

Season seven of Game of Thrones has only just begun, and already HBO is cracking down on people illegally downloading the wildly popular TV series.

But it's questionable how successful the TV network's attack will be, especially when many pirates are turning to streaming — a form of piracy that's hard to track but easy to do, even for Luddites.

"It's just a lower technical bar," says Dan Deeth of Sandvine, a broadband equipment company that tracks home internet usage.

CBC News easily found this online streaming site offering free access to new Game of Thrones shows. The character in this scene is Queen Cersei Lannister. (Couch Tuner/HBO)

According to TorrentFreak, a news site that covers piracy issues, HBO is targeting people suspected of illegally downloading Game of Thrones by sending notices to their internet provider.

The letter asks the provider to immediately inform the customer that they've behaved badly and need to stop.

The notice also encourages the provider "to inform the subscriber that HBO programming can easily be watched and streamed on many devices legally by adding HBO to the subscriber's television package."

Last year, HBO sent a similar message to pirates and raised the ire of many Canadian Thrones fans. That's because new episodes of the show are only available to Canadians with a pricey, top-tier TV subscription.

"It's just not viable for me to spend 150 bucks for HBO," says Josh Randell, who lives in Corner Brook, N.L. He received two warning letters last year telling him to stop downloading Game of Thrones and informing him it's never been easier to legally watch the series.

"It's never been easier, then why can't I get it easy?" says Randell. He says he would happily pay $14.99 US a month for HBO Now, a streaming service only available in the U.S. that offers full access to Game of Thrones shows.

Streaming is king

Despite the warning letters, Randell continues to pirate Game of Thrones, and so do many other people across the globe.

According to the U.K.-based piracy monitoring firm, MUSO, this year's season opener was pirated an astonishingly high 91.74 million times around the world.

"It's a big number but it's a big show and there's high demand," says MUSO CEO Andy Chatterley.

The company based its data on internet traffic to more than 23,000 piracy sites. It found that in most of the cases — a whopping 84.9 per cent — pirates used unauthorized streaming to watch the episode.

MUSO stands by its data but Sandvine's Deeth believes the statistics should be viewed as an estimate, claiming it's hard to track some forms of piracy. But he does agree with the company's findings that streaming, instead of downloading, is now the preferred way to steal content.

Robert Bratlien of Saskatoon displays the Android box he uses to watch free TV and movies. (Jason Warick/CBC)

"Streaming is just easier to now do because the technology has gotten better," says Deeth, who's based in Waterloo, Ont. "Things like those Android boxes have made it easier for the average consumer."

He's referring to TV boxes loaded with special software that are often advertised with the promise of "free TV," and sold for a one-time fee, typically around $100. Once buyers connect the device to a TV, they can easily stream a vast selection of pirated movies and shows — including Game of Thrones.

But the shift to streaming will make it even more difficult for TV networks like HBO to catch pirates. Deeth says illegal downloading is public, which means the anti-piracy police can at least figure out the internet provider involved and get it to send the suspect a warning letter.

But he says unauthorized streaming is much harder to track because the content is often encrypted.

About the Author

Sophia Harris has worked as a CBC video journalist across the country, covering everything from the start of the annual lobster fishery in Yarmouth, N.S., to farming in Saskatchewan. She now has found a good home at the business unit in Toronto. Contact: sophia.harris@cbc.ca

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